Advanced into Myth
by ShinMarsDragon
Summary: Granted task by Althena, Lucia watches over the Blue Star.


Originally written for phidari for Yuletide 2016 and posted on AO3.

* * *

Althena stumbled into her lab, fell, and did not get up.

The Earth was dead. Their folly, their destruction, their ruin, _Zophar_...that was dead as well.

Lying on the cold tile floor and listening to the empty wind, Althena felt that was rather cold comfort.

She could not think of any of it without bitterness. No matter how much Dann and Layla reassured her that there was no choice, no creation without destruction, that the Moon's mana systems were set up and waiting for her exactly as she had ordered, that humanity would thrive and propser far beyond the blasted wastes of Earth - it was by her own hand that humanity had lost their home. At every level, it was by her own hand.

They'd been so _excited_ to discover mana. It was hope for a dying planet. It was the promise of a world shaped entirely to their desires. It was a miracle. Science so advanced it became magic, the structure of the world laid bare to anyone (who could pay for access and training). One of her early colleges had given himself fur and claws, just for the hell of it, and now fully a third of humanity (remaining) were beastmen. She'd built the dragons herself, and sobbed in awe on seeing her childhood dreams fly.

She hoped they'd forgive her for binding their very existence into the Moon's systems. She could simply not trust any other human with the privileges, not anymore.

Not after their her shining miracle had shown its other face.

It seemed obvious now that magic would create magical pollution. That to allow a human heart unrestrained access to the flow of the world would layer upon layer, drip upon drop, corrupt it.

But they, the scientists, the laypeople, even Althena herself, had been only too happy to ignore all the warnings and keep going. They papered over the monsters and the madness until it was just Althena standing before the result of her life's work, a result that laughed and named her its summoner. She couldn't deny it. It was by her work that Zophar had come, so it was by her hand that it be destroyed...even if it meant burning out all of Earth's magic, all of Earth's _life_.

Almost all. The Moon was there. The Lunar Project, a wild flight of fancy turned reality was their last hope. There was clean mana there, mana that could be transferred across space. By setting up systems to channel and direct that mana to Earth, the world would be reborn.

Althena pushed herself to her feet, breath ragged. The systems would need a guardian. Someone to watch over them, to make sure Earth's revival proceeded without a hitch. The first lesson anyone learned was that any system could and would fail. There had to be someone to be there if her plan failed.

And it could not be her. She was called to the Moon, the last one alive who remembered when this was called science and not magic, the only one who could understand mana enough to bind the atmosphere, maintain the soil, cycle the water, to sustain the few small scraps of human life left. No matter how much she wished to atone, Althena could not stay on Earth.

But she had tricks. It was difficult to shape energy and matter to form a human, but not impossible. It was easier if you had a template, and Althena had many years of practice in copying herself. It was simply that this time, she would not die.

The copy took shape under her hands, fingers twitching as she shifted a few cells here, rerouted some neural impulses there. A perfect copy of Althena as the young woman she hadn't been in centuries - she frowned, and shifted the copy's face just a bit. A fraternal twin, not an identical one. Despite all her plans, despite the cruel destiny she would lay on this child's head...the girl would be her own person. Not just another incarnation of Althena.

Then she started the infinitely more delicate work of laying out the copy's neural network exactly as she needed it. The copy had no need of emotions, not when Althena's heart was so heavy in her chest. The copy had no need of love, not when Althena had watched the fruit of her most beloved work make a ruin of her equally beloved world. The copy had no need of song, not when Althena could never think of singing again.

The copy would simply guard the great mana systems of Earth for the hundreds, thousands, millions of years it would take for enough mana to be gathered.

Althena dropped her hands. Before her, incased in crystal, was her twin. A beautiful young woman with long blue hair, as alike to Althena as a sister, as a daughter, as her own flesh and blood. Althena opened her mouth, closed it, then finally opened it again to speak.

"I cannot - will not - ask your forgiveness for what I have done to you. I ask only that you understand and carry out your duty." She paused there again, feeling there was more to say and not being able to think of the words. "Watch over the Earth in my place. Protect it, guide it, and we will meet again. I promise you this," her breath caught on the address. She could give only one gift to the girl, and that was her real name. Her name before she became Althena: protector, administrator, and goddess.

But she could not recall what it was. Luna? Lucy? Lucille? It was something like that, she was sure. It had been so long.

"Lucia," she decided, and as she spoke it was done. Lucia, the light. "Your name is Lucia, and by it I swear to you that when your duty is complete, I will be there to congratulate you."

* * *

 _And so, time passed_

* * *

The first time she awoke, the magma flows were off.

Lucia dropped to the ground, and without having been told, knew what had to be done. Her first steps were calm and sure as she walked to the administration altar, her first spell so practiced as to be rote. The automatic system for maintaining proper tectonic movements was off by millimeters. She dove through the layers of security, adjusted the delicate, precious mana fields, and came back up with a sense of a job well done.

She checked the other systems for any alerts. Atmospheric pressure: still well below normal levels, but rising as planned. Atmospheric composition: oxygen levels too low. She shifted a few of the artificial bindings and made a note of it. Temperature: steady, and not set to rise until atmospheric conditions allowed it. Mana flows: still reliant on the Moon, but there was hope that energy levels would be back to normal Earth standards within 10,000 years.

Job done, Lucia went back to sleep.

* * *

The second time she awoke, the atmosphere was disappearing.

She lept from the crystal and ran to the altar. All of Althena's plans were in danger. Lucia reached out with all her power and bound the air to the ground - hasty and slapdash work, but the pressure levels had to get back within the predicted range soon, or...or she would miss the quota, and the revival project would be set back, and Althena would be disappointed when they met.

She had never met Althena, never seen her face nor heard her voice, but Lucia knew with every bit of her soul that she did not want to disappoint her.

Once the air was bound she took her time adjusting oxygen and nitrogen production levels, settling the heavy gases back in their proper place. Eventually, all tests passed with no problems, and Lucia breathed easily as she fell back asleep.

* * *

The third time she awoke, nothing was wrong.

Lucia walked the halls of the temple in confusion. Nothing pulled at her mind to show a desperate problem in the restoration of Earth - the Blue Star, a small voice corrected, and she accepted the update without a second thought.

She dressed for lack of anything better to do, and something told her that one should dress when one got up. She hadn't done so before, and the straps and buckles of the clothing provided stymied her for nearly half an hour.

Properly dressed in warm clothes and a thick red cape, Lucia continued to wander the halls. All systems reported normal. The mana reserves were doing well - soon they would no longer need her own contribution, and she could retain more of her own life - though she had no idea what she would do with it when she did. She produced more than enough to sustain her for all eternity. She had been built that way.

Eventually she thought to check on the Moon project - Lunar, came the update - and found it flourishing beyond the planners' wildest dreams. Nearly a quarter of Lunar's surface sustained a full ecosystem, and somehow life existed in the dark corners where not even Althena's power could reach. Lucia packaged a polite 'congratulations' to Althena, under the vague prompting that such a matter warranted such a message.

The reply thanked her for her sentiments and gently chided her to go back to bed. Lucia obeyed, but felt oddly put out by the order.

As her eyes closed, she remembered she was not supposed to be able to feel put out.

* * *

The fourth time she awoke, the systems had discovered life.

Lucia rushed to the altar, not bothering with any clothes. There was not supposed to be any life but her on the Blue Star for another 5000 years, so how...?

It was a glitch in the systems. A small build-up of mana and a shadow convinced one of the monitors there was lichen when there was nothing but dead rock. Lucia bowed her head and walked back to the crystal, heart feeling strangely heavy.

* * *

In her dreams, atoms danced in swirling chains, whirling through fields of magic that transformed them into strange and new forms. Lucia saw them and understood every new bond, every proton and electron lost or gained, every small change that built and echoed until a world was created or destroyed, and both actions were the same.

She turned to Althena standing behind her, to say - something, she did not know what. Althena silenced her with a look, her eyes terrible and sad, and Lucia could not understand why. Had she somehow failed Althena? Was the restoration of the Blue Star not going fast enough? Lucia had done everything requested of her. She fulfilled her purpose, watching over the Blue Star. What more did she need?

Althena looked at her, eyes still sad, and Lucia's heart hammered in her chest. She was not supposed to -

Althena's hand pressed to her chest, right above her heart. At that the goddess finally smiled, gentle and kind, and Lucia felt it was vitally, desperately important she know what Althena was trying to tell her. She grasped at the hand, pressing it closer to her heart, and could not make herself understand.

She finally gasped out one word, "What...?" but Althena melted away and the dream ran on.

* * *

The fifth time she awoke, nothing was wrong on the Blue Star.

Lucia walked to the balcony and looked out over the cold wastes. For the first time in her long life, she felt cold. It wasn't because of the wind or snow, but something...something strange, something she couldn't quite name. Had she emotions, she would have named it dread.

There was nothing wrong on the Blue Star. All systems were normal, restoration proceeding in pace with Althena's grand plan. Lacking any better ideas, she tapped the lines of communication to Lunar. There was a sickening, heavy sensation in her stomach.

The lines were old, untouched for over 3000 years. Lucia called to Althena and received no answer. Nothing from the administration tower, not even an acknowledgment. Was Althena ignoring her? Lucia sent the message at a higher priority, trying to break through whatever was distracting her.

No reply. But she she could feel something on Lunar, even through the limited bandwidth to Earth. Something dark and terrible, something that never, ever should have been allowed into the final paradise.

There was the taint of Zophar on Lunar.

The Blue Star could wait. Althena was gone, likely imprisoned. The last remnants of humanity were in danger. If the pollution was in Lunar, then there was nothing, no task too great, no method too extreme, to purify it once and for all.

Lucia swirled the red cape around her shoulders. Her other half called. It was time to answer.

* * *

Fixing Lunar took considerably more time than she anticipated.

* * *

The fifth time she went to sleep, it was with regret.

She understood why Althena had chosen to live as a human. She understood the warmth and friendship that had called her other half away from the Goddess Tower to live out a simple life in a small northern village. She finally understood what Althena had been trying to tell her in that dream, a thousand years ago. She understood it all.

But the Blue Star would not survive without her, and in time, even Lunar might fail. Would fail.

Humanity, with all its strength and cruelty and kindness, deserved its true home.

So Lucia turned away from her first and dearest friends to remain a goddess. She hoped they would remember her fondly, and looked forward to welcoming their children's children home.

...she really hadn't expected any of them to follow her.


End file.
